How to Setup Nginx as a Reverse Proxy for Apache on Ubuntu VPS

Step 1 – Install and Configure Apache

First, you will need to install an Apache web server on your VPS. You can install Apache by running the following command:

apt-get install apache2 -y

Once installed, start the Apache web service and enable it to start after the system reboot with the following command:

systemctl start apache2
systemctl enable apache2

By default, Apache listens on port 80. You will need to configure Apache to listen on port 8080. You can do it by editing ports.conf file:

nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Find the following line:

Listen 80

Replace it with the following:

Listen 127.0.0.1:8080

Save and close the file. Then, open the Apache default virtual host file with the following command:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Find the following line:

<VirtualHost *:80>

Replace it with the following:

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:8080>

Save and close the file when you have finished. Then, restart the Apache web service to apply all the configuration changes:

systemctl restart apache2

You can now verify that the Apache web server is listening on port 8080 with the following command:

ss -ant | grep 8080

You should see the following output:

tcp 0 127.0.0.1:8080 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN

Step 2 – Install and Configure Nginx

Next, you will need to install Nginx and configure it as a reverse proxy to forward requests coming on port 80 to the Apache web server that is listening on port 8080.

You can install the Nginx web server by running the following command:

apt-get install nginx -y

Once installed, start the Nginx service and enable it to start after the system reboot:

systemctl start nginx
systemctl enable nginx

Next, set up the Nginx reverse proxy by creating a new virtual host file:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Add the following lines:

server {
   listen 80;

   root /var/www/html/;
   index index.html index.htm;

   server_name example;

   location \ {

   proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
   proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
   proxy_set_header Host $host;
   proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
}

}

Save and close the file. Then, enable the virtual host configuration file with the following command:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Next, verify Nginx for any syntax error with the following command:

nginx -t

If everything is correct, you should get the following output:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Finally, restart Nginx service to apply these configuration changes:

systemctl restart nginx

Step 3 – Test the Nginx Reverse Proxy

Nginx and Apache are installed and configured properly. Now, you can test the functionality of the Nginx reverse proxy.

To do so, open your web browser and type the URL http://example.com. You will be redirected to the Apache default page as shown in the following screen:

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Nginx as a reverse proxy for the Apache webserver. You can also configure Nginx as a reverse proxy for other applications like Tomcat, Wildfly, Node.Js, and Glassfish.

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